This show felt
catapulted direct from a Footlights
revue as the boys
reprised their trademark roles of Steve Punt as the straight man
– with Hugh Dennis
amusing the sell-out crowd with his knockabout
approach.
It was for all the world a
Radio 4-style audience in on this wet Friday night, and Punt and Dennis may have
been surprised to see so much grey hair (or no hair) in their
demographic.
But with radio's The Now Show
their main satirical vehicle and Hugh Dennis involved in gentler televisual
comedy pursuits, perhaps they come to expect that.
Clipboard-holding
Steve ran through
their carefully-chosen topics
in time-honoured style as the perfect foil for Hugh's
commentary. There was a plethora of digital television channels
to describe, such as the curiously named ITV2+1 – surely
that's just ITV3? A smattering of Jimmy Savile jokes “Half my act's gone”, says
Hugh – while softly singing Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old
Yewtree.
Easier to identify
with what people are overheard saying while shopping at Waitrose: “Do we need
parmesan for both houses,
darling?”, or how we're suckered into buying from the shopping channels when we
get home tipsy.
The duo were here
three years ago and while it's nice to enjoy some of their best-loved material
again, there was a lingering feeling that too
much of this current show was reworked.
We'd seen before
Hugh asking us to laugh in the style
of a pirate,
or a Frenchman, and while World of Wine was a
superb ending to the evening, it felt like another digital channel repeat.
